Names

Federico Chavez Sosa:  People here have at least two family names.  The first last name is the father’s name followed by the mother’s name.  Federico’s father was Jose Chavez Ruiz and his wife is Soledad Sosa XXX. Federico’s wife is Dolores Santiago Arellanas.  Their children are Eric Chavez Santiago, Janet Chavez Santiago and Omar Chavez Santiago; they carry both their father’s and mother’s names.  This is helpful and important in a village where many share the same surnames.  So, for example, there several people who are named Eric Chavez, but only one Eric Chavez Santiago.  There is a distant cousin named Eric Chavez Sosa, so it is important to be clear about the distinctions in order to find the people you are looking for.    Take, for another example, Josefina Ruiz Vasquez, the owner/operator of Las Granadas bed and breakfast.  She was married to Eligio Bazan Ruiz, who died almost three years ago at age 38 of cancer.  He was a master weaver who traveled with Scott Roth throughout the United States exhibiting rugs and making some of the finest work of the village.  When Eligio died, Josefina had no livelihood.  She was living with her mother in law, Eligio’s mother, Magdalena, in her husband’s family home.  Josefina has three children, Eloisa Francesca Bazan Ruiz, Willibaldo Bazan Ruiz, and Eligio Bazan Ruiz.   

According to HarperCollins Dictionary….. 

nombre de pila, noun

first name

The pila referred to here is the font in which Christian children are traditionally baptized.

Most of the first names in Spain have some kind of Christian associations. It’s not uncommon for a boy to be called Jesús (with an accent) after Jesus, or José, after Joseph. It’s equally common for a girl to be named María, after the Virgin Mary. There is also a tendency to sandwich names together, making combinations like José María (for a boy) or María Jesús (for a girl).

Though a lot of these names are used in Latin America, you are also more likely to come across names which do not have any specific religious associations.
 

Finding Federico & Eric Chavez: Calle Francisco I. Madero #55

Preface: The village just had an election and there is a new president and village council. They have renumbered every home on every street. Many homes will now have their “old numbers” and their “new numbers” enameled in yellow on dark green. I’m certain this will be confusing to many travelers who want to search out the very best weavers who are not to be found in the village market. The Chavez family have just put up the new numbers — #55. Many families are using both the old and new numbers. Sometimes, numbers alone are not enough. For example, to find the Chavez family, as you enter into town on Avenida Benito Juarez, turn left at Francisco I Madero (Mexican revolutionary hero). The street is before you cross the bridge going toward the central square. There will be a big yellow sign at the corner that says” Familia Chavez Santiago”. Go down one long block and cross Independencia. You’ll then come to a pretty scrabbly cobble stone road. Don’t let that stop you. Keep going until you get to a long alley way. There will be a small sign up above that says F.Chavez with #55 below it. Turn right and go down the alley until you get to the gate and the family home. Federico’s older brother Miguel lives in the front house that faces the street and if you knock there, he will likely want you to come in and see his work instead, but don’t get sidetracked because there is a big, big difference in quality. ****** It’s nearly 1:30 p.m. I’m sitting at the dining table in the courtyard of the Federico Chavez Sosa family in Teotitlan. The table is wood covered with a pretty plaid and floral oilcloth. It seats up to 10 people and serves as the center of family business, meals, relaxation and talking time. I am surrounded by looms, tapetes (rugs or blankets — TAH-pet-tays), hanks of yarn both dyed and natural shades in a g-zillion variations of red, green, blue, yellow, tan, brown, orange, pink. Middle child, daughter Janet age 22, a university student studying linguistics, is sitting across from me, fiddling with a metal brush that she is using to clean a rug that has just been woven. She picks out the tiny bits of plant fiber from the wool with a tweezers, then brushes the rug with the metal implement which reveals more plant material, continues plucking until the rug is clean. This can take an hour or several hours, depending upon the size of the rug. Last week, Federico completed a commission for a couple who live in Arizona. The rug was 10 x 14 and this hand method of cleaning it took several hours by the entire family — Federico, wife Dolores, Eric, Janet and 14-year old Omar. Eric is behind me at his loom, measuring what will be the warp threads, preparing the warp by hand winding it between two iron posts set into the courtyard bricks, using incredibly strong cotton to begin a another project, a set of pillows that will be completed for me to take home to North Carolina and offer for sale. Eric completed university in Oaxaca last year, speaks fluent English and is deciding what he will do next. He loves to weave, is an excellent weaver, too, like his parents and fore bearers, but is considering going on for advanced graduate education in the United States. In a village where ancient traditions and family ties are strong, where young women become eligible for marriage after the Quinceanos celebration of puberty, where pregnancy and marriage at age 17 or 18 is common, where it is not unusual for families to have six to eight children or more, where youthful dreams of economic prosperity become subsumed to the basic needs of everyday life, this family has created a different model. Omar will complete middle school in the village in July and then go on to post-secondary high school, which is private education, in Oaxaca city starting in August 2008, getting up early in the morning, riding the bus daily back and forth from the village to the city, like his brother and sister before him. The Christmas tree is still up; the manger scene is decorated with plastic farm animals, the wise men, baby Jesus, Joseph and Mary nestled in moss and whole root aloe plants in bloom bought at the market brought down from the mountain village of Benito Juarez by mountain top farmers who cultivate roses and gladiolas and cana lilies. A bright blue 3-burner propane gas cooktop is ready for preparing the next batch of natural dyes. The courtyard is the living room. From it, two sets of concrete stairs lead to the upper floors, dominated by Federico’s large looms (six are set up and two are unbuilt), flanked by bedrooms. The altar room is also the area for displaying rugs. Janet recollects that this is the house where she was born and raised, and that in the early years the courtyard flourished with pomegranate, avocado and mango trees where the paved courtyard is now. As the family grew and as the grandfather’s land in this narrow and long plot of land was divided among three brothers, rooms were added as rugs were sold and money became available, a second story was built, the courtyard became smaller, the trees gave way to concrete, and building became a vertical endeavor. This is a cash economy and people build or add on until the money for the project runs out or the project is completed. Throughout the village we see various stages of construction, and prosperity is measured by the same standards that we have in the U.S. — size of house and hillside vs. flat land location. Up until recently no one built beyond the boundaries of the river, but now, families with multiple offspring who are able to sell rugs to distributors or representatives in the U.S. use their profits to build. This is how people invest here. Since the Chavez family has been coming to the U.S. to give lectures and presentations at universities, museums and galleries over the last two years, their situation has improved, and they are now building an entirely new casa on the outskirts of the village where there will be the space and freedom to have gardens, fresh air and great views. Stephen and I were unable to go with the family to Las Cuevitas this year, but we asked them to build us a symbolic casita out of rocks and make an offering to construct our casita next to theirs this year. It looks like, in the next few days, we will complete our plans with cousin Omar Santiago, a village architect, who will break ground and start the foundation, hopefully before I leave to return to North Carolina this Saturday. Suenos Grandes.

Three Days in Mazunte

Mazunte (Mah-zoon-tay) is not for everyone — it is a small, quaint tropical spit of beach northwest of Puerto Angel, past Zipolite, where dreadlocks, drop-outs, and eco-travelers who want something more authentic than high-rise Huatulco mega hotels have found safe haven.  It is a mix of palapas (coconut palm thatched cottages), bungalows, camp grounds, rooms for rent, hammocks for rent, that are basic accommodations starting at $10-25 per night to a few higher end locales like El Sueno that go for about $100 per night. Beach side dining runs $5-10 per person per meal.  A platter of fresh fruit is $3.00; omelettes and huevos revueltos (scrambled eggs) accompanied by fresh corn tortillas, beans and rice are about $4.00.  The One Really Great Eatery is Un Secreto, owned by a young Frenchman from Montpelier and his American wife.  This is where you can get REAL espresso, cappuccino, cafe con leche — where the coffee is organic from the local highlands just above Pochutla.  But, I digress.  Food is not the reason to go to Mazunte.  This is a wide, gorgeous beach with rock outcroppings, where the Pacific Ocean is warm enough to feel like a bathtub and one can swim at 8 a.m. in the morning or 6 p.m. at dusk.  It is also a surfers paradise and the waves surge to maximum height (along with the strengthening undertow) in mid-afternoon.  The sky is clear, bright and the night stars are truly like diamonds.  It is hot in Mazunte and in January can be 85 to 90 degrees during the day, and maybe 65 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit during the night.  It is laid back and one can wear a bathing suit and sarong day in and day out.  For three days we rested here, laid in hammocks or sat in Adirondack chairs protected from the sun by the thatched palm palapas, drank agua de sandia (watermelon juice), ate fresh papaya, melon and pineapple drizzled with lemon juice, took early morning and evening strolls on the beach, ran down to the water to jump in the waves to cool ourselves, didn’t look at email.  It felt like we were on an island far away from the world as we know it.  The sun glittered on the water, the light was so strong that sometimes it hurt my eyes, the gulls and pelicans did their diving dances for sardines that swam in schools between our legs, shore fishermen cast their nets at dusk, children built sand castles, older couples walked hand in hand, the sun worshippers turned their bikini-clad bodies periodically for even roasting.  A constant flow of local vendors passed our way, plying the beach, back and forth, old women and mothers with children in tow, baskets balanced on their heads, hawking tamales, dulces (dool-sez) — sweet pastries, cheap jewelry, clothing, organic coffee, mole. It is not an easy way to make a living. There is a turtle museum up the road and international teams come here to save the endangered turtles and their eggs.  We met a group of veterinarians and veterinary aides from all over the U.S. who have come here through Project Mazunte for the past nine years during the turtle egg laying season.  They neuter and spay dogs up and down the coast in order to reduce the marauding packs that prey on turtles and their eggs.  Three difficult roads lead from Oaxaca to the Pacific Coast.  They are two lane, narrow, winding switchbacks where maximum speed is about 45 mph.  It took us 7 hours to get from Puerto Angel back to Oaxaca, counting one 15 minute break at the summit of highway 175, and not counting the 45 minutes we took out for comida in San Martin Tilcajete at 4:30 p.m. on the road out of Ocotlan. I have now traveled two of these roads, Mexico 190 from Oaxaca to Tehuantepec and Mexico 175.  Both are a similar experience, although it takes a mere 4 hours to get to Tehuantepec!  it takes an additional 2 hours to get to Huatulco from there, and then another 1 hour or so to get to Puerto Angel and then 30 minutes more to Mazunte .  One does not go to the beach for a day trip.  It will be some years before we do this trip again, since I cannot be in the midday sun (fair skin is a definite detriment in this climate), and sleeping is much more conducive in the cooler Oaxaca highlands.  I was amazed at the differences in terrain on these roads.  The road to Tehuantepec is high desert, sheer cliff precipes, suguaro cactus forests, agave fields running vertical up the hillsides for miles starting just outside of Matatlan and continuing for 100 miles.  It is like driving Laurel Canyon or the coast of Big Sur for 100 miles — not for the faint of heart.  Route 175, while equally dizzying, does not have the number of drop offs at the edge of the road and goes through a much more tropical region of banana, coconut, mango and coffee bean groves.  Roadside stands sell freshly cut bananas — green, red and yellow — in varying varieties and stages of ripeness.  Piles of coconuts are there for the picking. This road does not seem to be as heavily traveled as the one to Tehuantepec; we encountered no tourist buses swaying in front of us or breathing down our tail, no overly eager taxi drivers wanting to pass on blind curves.  It was a relief to descend into the Oaxaca Valley and return home to Teotitlan.  We are thinking that perhaps the next time we will take a flight to Huatulco or Puerto Escondido and save the wear and tear.A few notes about Tehuantepec and Juichitan:  other than the market at Juichitan to shop for the beautifully embroidered blouses and skirts or the finely filagreed gold jewelery of the Tehuanas, there is, in my humble opinion, no compelling reason to spend more than two or three hours in the region.  If you are in the market, go directly to the second floor where all the best embroidery is located.  For jewelry, go to the last stall on your left for the best prices.  Juichitan is definitely the more interesting town between the two, is the third largest in Oaxaca state with more than 80,000 people, and is the commercial center of the region.  It’s streets are packed with cars, trucks, bicyclists, vendors, banks, a hubbub, mishmash of people and things for sale.  Nothing is quiet.  Bring your ear plugs if you plan to sleep here.  We slept at the Hotel Calli just outside of Tehuantepec heading toward Juichitan on the left side of the Panamerican Highway beyond the bus station.  This was after we drove to Juichitan, circled the town, decided nothing was hospitable looking enough for us after this grueling 4 hour road trip down the mountainside, drove back to Tehuantepec across the desert dotted cattle ranches and battling fierce 50+ mph winds to check into the Hotel Calli, an oasis well worth the $80 USD per night. A few notes about Huatulco:  if you want Cancun on the Pacific Coast and Disneyland beach shuttles ferrying North Americans to the beach, with high end shopping and eateries, isolated from the real Mexico, this is a perfect destination.  The beaches are beautiful, and there are a few gated beach side condominum communities that offer protection and exclusivity for those seeking this type of solitude.  We went straight through Huatulco, spent the night at Crucecita in a bsic clean room at the Hotel Grifer for $500 pesos, and found our beach haven the next day at Mazunte.  We did hear from a Canadian in Mazunte who was from Regina, Saskatchewan, that he found a package to Huatulco through a travel agent, dropped the land portion, ended up paying $200 USD round trip air fare to Huatulco from Regina, a 6 hour flight.  We’re going to look into this when we get home.